Hate Turnips? Give White Salad Turnips a Try

If you ever, as a child, turned up your nose at a turnip (or still harbor a grudge against the polarizing root vegetable), your aversion to anything with the word “turnip” in it is understandable. But bear with us: White salad turnips are nothing like the purple-tinged, potato-like vegetable of your youth. They’re a lot less polarizing, too.

"Technically they’re called Hakurei turnips, but … we were pretty underwhelmed by the response to that and we started calling them ‘sweet salad turnips,’” said Eve Kaplan-Walbrecht, who with her husband manages the Garden of Eve organic farm and market in Riverhead, New York. “Turnips kind of have a negative connotation,” she added wryly.

The name fits, Kaplan-Walbrecht said, because the turnips are excellent in fresh greens salads. When raw, white salad turnips have a mild flavor that gives way to a subtle, juicy sweetness. There’s a spicy kick on the finish, nearly like a radish.

But white salad turnips aren’t just for salads.

"My husband will sauté them with a little maple syrup, which caramelizes them," she explained. "People also juice them, and you can even stir-fry them with bok choy and stuff. It’s definitely a very versatile ingredient.”